14 Tips For Using Social Media to Connect With Your Conference Audience

Posted by: Jenise Fryatt

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Social media has given presenters amazing tools with which to market ourselves. But to use these tools properly, it’s important to encourage dialogue and stay away from broadcasting our message.

In fact, I’m not even sure I like the term “marketing” in this instance. I prefer “connecting” because it’s more indicative of the kind of activity that really benefits presenters and audiences alike.

Here are a few tips I’ve used and have come across while scouring the web for presentation advice.

BEFORE
1 – Start using the conference hashtag to tweet information that is relevent to your audience. Search around on the internet under keywords that your audience might find interesting. This accomplishes two things:
(a) It helps you learn more about your audience and
(b) it familiarizes your audience with you.

2 – Write and tweet links to blog posts or retweet links to previous blog posts, that your audience might find interesting, using the conference hashtag. Again, this helps your audience get to know you.
3 – Crowd source content – Using the conference hashtag on Twitter, ask a question about what your audience might want to know for inclusion in your presentation. You can also do this on your Facebook page.
4 – Use the conference hashtag to ask audience members to like your Facebook page. From there you can employ these same tips.
5 – Using the conference hashtag, send out a few tweets asking online followers to a Tweet Up. This can really help to break the ice, make new connections and create brand ambassadors who help spread the word before your session.
6 – Tweet a teaser before your session, ei at my GMIC conference session I tweeted, “Hey GMIC attendees! If you come to my session, you might see this!” (link to example of an improv game.)
7 – RETWEET interesting information you see posted on the conference hashtag.

DURING
1 – Encourage your audience to use the conference hashtag to tweet questions during your presentation. Or you may want to use a session-specific hashtag.
2 – Ask a friend to monitor the conference hashtag during your presentation to alert you to questions or issues tweeted by your audience.

AFTER
1 – Take screen shots of any tweets about your session that were complimentary. I have an online scrap book of screen shots like this which I can use for future proposals, marketing, etc.
2 – Keep watching the conference hashtag after your session and contribute whenever you can. This shows you’re interested in the community, not just in your own show.
3 – Write blog posts about things you learned from the event and tweet links using the conference hashtag.
4 – Ask for LinkedIn recommendations from conference organizers who appreciated your session.
5 – Post video excerpts from your session on You Tube and tweet links using the conference hashtag.

We are only just beginning to explore the many ways that presenters and audiences can connect using social media. If you have some ideas to add, please share them in the comments!

Posted with the permission of Liz King and Jenise Fryatt| Originally posted @ http://lizkingevents.com/2011/03/09/14-ways-presenters-can-use-social-media-to-connect-with-their-audience-by-jenisefryatt/

(Photo by kiwi flickr)